Sudanese President Bashir Arrives for Oil Talks in South Sudan

By Michael Gunn -
Apr 12, 2013

Sudan’s President Umar al-Bashir
arrived in South Sudan to discuss improving ties after disputes
over oil exports and the countries’ shared border.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir met Bashir and his
ministers of defense, foreign affairs and oil today at the
airport in Juba, the capital, Suna, Sudan’s state news agency,
reported. The leaders agreed in March to create a demilitarized
zone on their border and restart shipments from South Sudan’s
oil fields via a pipeline to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

Bashir’s visit is meant to “break the barrier of
distrust” and “show the political will to implement what was
agreed upon,” Sudan’s Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman
said in the capital, Khartoum, according to Suna. “We are
trying to narrow the areas of difference and expand the areas of
agreement.”

South Sudan halted production in January 2012 after
accusing the northern government of stealing $815 million of its
oil, which Sudan said it took to recover unpaid transport and
processing fees. That and other disputes, including over border
security, brought the countries to the brink of war a year ago.

Before the stoppage, South Sudan produced as much as
350,000 barrels a day. The oil is pumped mainly by China
National Petroleum Corp., Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and
India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd.

It is the first visit by Bashir to South Sudan since he
attended celebrations when it seceded in July 2011.